But I am normal, right?
by Saffron Harvest
Summary: A young woman's job is transferred to England, and she finds some strange books in a bookstore...
1. Default Chapter

Tracy took one last look around her empty apartment and grinned. She was so glad to get out of Kansas, and being able to move to England was defiantly a plus. Although she didn't know why, Tracy had been picked to transfer to England to manage one of the branch offices. It was a big promotion since she was only 25, and now about to become a manager. Tracy was glad to jump at the chance, since she had few real friends and no family left to tie her in one place. The transfer came through in August, and Tracy moved across the Atlantic as soon as she found a place. Luckily, she was able to find a nice flat within bicycling distance of her job since she was not too sure about driving on the wrong side of the road.  
  
After a few weeks of going to work then coming home and unpacking, Tracy was going stir-crazy. She decided to start exploring her new neighborhood, and stop by a different shop each night on her way home from work. She started by hitting all of the bookstores first, since she had not brought many of her books from home, and was feeling deprived of her main stress- relieving outlet. Tracy found some very interesting books about fantasy worlds, and some very interesting fiction about alternate realities including a set of books about a wizard named Harry Potter. Since Tracy had been accused many times of being a dreamer, these fantasy books were perfect for her since she was able to almost see the world as the author wrote. Since she had this ability, she didn't go to movies all that often because she could see better in her own imagination. Since Tracy bought so many books, during the first month there, her bank account started running low. To stay afloat, she had to go on a budget, and started going to other types of shops so she would not be tempted as much as she was in bookstores.  
  
One day, Tracy stopped at a little antique store that caught her attention with Chinese dragon figurines in the window. When she stepped into the store, she was almost overwhelmed with all of the interesting things she could see. She knew it would take at least a week of browsing to be able to see everything, but it did seem like there was an order to the shop. Tracy decided to start to the right of the door, and walked slowly down the aisle looking at the shelves, touching objects that caught her eye. She saw many ceramic figurines, lots of antiques, and occasionally movie memorabilia. As she was bending down to get a better look at a china head doll, a bookcase caught her eye. In the bottom corner, were 3 books, tied together with a faded ribbon. She picked them up carefully, and looked at the titles. With her first glance, she knew she was going to buy these books. They almost seemed to call to her. She knew they had to be fantasy, since with titles like: "charms and hexes for beginners," "50 shields and their uses" and one with just the title of "animagi." , What else could they be? She looked at them and remembered the harry potter books, and wondered if maybe those books could be true. Tracy carried them carefully up to the counter, and the little old gentleman behind the counter looked at her, and seemed to be looking in her for something. Finally he nodded to himself, and said, "there is more than just the books in this lot" then he went to the back room and came back with what looked like an oversized necklace box. "Don't open the box until you get home," he advised her and rang up the purchase.  
  
Tracy couldn't wait to get home to find out what the books were like, and pedaled home at top speed. Once she got home, she collapsed in her favorite chair and put her bag on her lap and slowly drew out the books and strange box. After turning the box over and over a couple of times, she decided to let the anticipation grow, and decided to read the books before opening the box. Since in all of her other reading shields played an important part, she decided to start with that book, and curled up with a glass of Mountain Dew, a bar of chocolate and the book. After reading the first page she closed the book and looked at the cover again, then checked the title page. This was no fantasy book! It seemed to tell exactly what shields to raise in what situation, and how to pronounce the spell. Tracy decided not to worry if it was real or not, and decided to keep reading. She opened it again and started learning how to protect herself from things like faeries, trolls, giants and manticores, also listed in the book were shields that would block others from knowing that magic was going on inside of a room or house. She didn't finish reading the book until about 3:00 in the morning, and just sat and stared at nothing for a while. This book seemed to operate on the premise that magic was real, and the person reading the book could control it. Tracy decided to read the book on charms and hexes next, and with liberal applications of caffeine, she was able to stay up til 7:00 and finish that book too.  
  
Since she had been up all night reading, she called in sick to work so she could read the last, and most interesting looking, book. This book dealt with changing yourself into an animal, by potion, or will alone. Tracy wondered what kind of creature she could become, and on the last page saw a recipe for something that claimed to show a person what form they would take as an animagi. The only problem was most of the ingredients were weird things like beetle eyes, unicorn hair and other oddities. Tracy thought back to the shop where she got the books, and remembered that at the back wall, there were rows upon rows of bottles. She had not gotten back that far, and wondered if that shop carried these things. She copied down a list of ingredients(but not what they were for or the amounts) and went back to the store. The old gentleman did not look surprised to see her and went directly to the counter at the back. "What ingredients do you need missy?" he said. She handed him the list, and he looked it over carefully. "Do you have a cauldron to mix this potion in?" "No, I don't." "Ok then, you need the ingredients, probably a motor and pestle, some scales and a cauldron, does that about wrap it up?" "Yes it does, thank you very much" "here are your supplies, please be careful with the mixing, some of these can combine to be poisonous": "could you suggest some other books then? Just to make sure I don't do anything too wrong?" "I thought you might want more books, so I decided to give you my old school books. I don't use them anymore, and you could benefit from the lessons. There will be no charge, just think of it as a permanent loan if you have to" Tracy just about danced in her joy, and beamed at the man, and when he was within reach handing her a parcel of books, gave him a hug. "I don't know why you are being so nice to me, but thank you so very much!!! I have been dreaming of something like this all of my life."  
  
She gathered up all of the supplies and started out of the door, but the man stopped her and asked "have you opened the box yet?" Tracy blushed, "I forgot about it with the books" "when you do open it, make sure that you are sitting down, and don't be afraid of anything you see" he said cryptically. "What does that mean?" "It means your life if about to change completely missy, but it should be for the better" "thank you once again for all of your help" she said over her shoulder as she left, "I appreciate this more than you could know". Tracy didn't hear the old man say "I do know, and I hope you are able to stay safe"  
  
Tracy hurried home so she could look at the books in the parcel and get started on the potion to find out what creature she could become. It was evening when she got home, and started the potion. It takes 12 hours to brew, so she knew she had to call in sick again in the morning. Since she had to be up to make the potion, she decided to start reading the books the nice gentleman gave her, and opened the parcel. It had about 25 books in it, and some of them were combinations. There was a book called "transfiguration years 1-7" and one called "Potions: beginning and advanced, years 1-7" there were lots of other books, and they all looked like they came from Hogwarts. Tracy wondered if the Harry Potter books were true and was going to go reread them, but all of a sudden she remembered what he had said about the box and went to get it.  
  
After checking on the potion, she sat down with the box in her lap. She slowly put her hands on the latch and started lifting the lid. As the lid came up, it looked like some kind of mist was coming out of the box and covering her legs. She looked in the box and saw a grey shimmery lump of materiel that when she shook it out became a cloak. As she shook it, a piece of parchment fluttered to the floor. She bent to pick it up, but it was blank so she ignored it for a while because in the bottom of the box she saw a stick. As she picked it up, her hand trembled shaking the stick, and red and gold sparks flew out of the end. Tracy dropped the stick, no it was a wand, in shock. The wand landed on the parchment and words scrolled up and off the edge: this map was made by messrs. moony, padfoot, prongs and wormtail. Use it wisely, and get in lots of mischief. To make it work, tap the map with your wand and say "I solemnly swear I am up to no good", and when you are done tap it again and say "mischief managed" I know that the person in the prophecy will need this so I made sure this copy of the maruader's map and an invisible cloak were packaged together with the wand for the person who will change history. Long live the maruaders!  
  
Tracy had to sit in her chair for quite a while assimilating this shocking event, realizing that one of the fantasy worlds she dreamed about had just became real. She had an invisible cloak and the maurader's map, and now just needed to get to hogwarts to find out how all this happened. finally Tracy stirred herself to go add the last ingredients to the potion. While she set the pot to simmer for the last 2 hours, Tracy started reading the books the old man had given her, and slowly started accepting that she might not be able to ever go back to being the same person again. Magic was real, and with this wand, she could do things she had only read and dreamed about.  
  
After the potion was finished at nine the next morning she called in sick again so she could take a nap before trying the animagi potion. Her head was swimming with all of the things that had happened to her in the past 48 hours, and she couldn't get to sleep. She finally decided that she would get up and get some sleeping pills, but when she opened her eyes, she noticed something was very different. She decided that she had fallen asleep, and was dreaming since she was looking at a gorgeous castle with turrets and a moat, that had lots of children wandering around wearing what looked like robes. Since they were all walking in the same direction, she decided to follow a group, and ended up in what looked like the great hall from the Harry Potter books. It had four rows of tables and what looked like a head table with adults at it. Tracy decided to head toward the table with adults to see if she could listen in, and maybe interact with someone. As she was walking forward, the oldest man at the table, who had a long white beard and young looking sparkling eyes seemed to track her movements. She saw a lady with her hair in a bun and glasses, and a huge man with bushy hair and a beard exchange speaking glances, and looked around and noticed that everyone was staring at her! She looked around nervously, and smiled at the kids.  
  
Then she walked up to the old man and said, "my name is Tracy, and I love this place! Where is it? Is it just a dream? If so I am going to be very disappointed when I wake up."  
  
The old man looked at her with twinkling eyes, and said " my name is Albus Dumbledore, and this is a school called Hogwarts. Would you come with me to my office and we can talk?"  
  
Tracy agreed, and followed him down hallways and up stairs until he stopped in front of a gargoyle and said "Reese's Pieces" She jumped back when it pivoted to the side and revealed a door. Dumbledore just grinned, and said "after you." Tracy gathered her courage and walked into a very comfortable office/library. She sat down in a comfortable chair and looked around. She saw lots of books, a fireplace, and a bird she had never heard of in her life other in fantasy books. When Dumbledore noticed the direction of her attention, he looked over his shoulder and said "I see you are interested in Fawkes. He is a phoenix, and my friend"  
  
Tracy looked at the bird again and said "hello Fawkes, you are one glorious bird!" Then she had to fight the urge to duck when he flew over and perched on the back of her chair and stared preening her hair. Dumbledore just looked at her and said "he is an excellent judge of character." Then he asked her how she had gotten to Hogwarts, and she told him that she was dreaming. He looked searchingly at her for a minute, and then said, "yes you are. Do you know why you would be dreaming of us?"  
  
And she replied, well, I found some interesting books at an antique store, or what I thought was one, the day before yesterday about magic, complete with a stick that may be a wand, and I think I ended up in this place so I can learn to control my power. I just moved here not even 2 months ago from Kansas, and I guess that magic and England just go together in my mind after all of the books I have read. He looked a little sad for a minute, and said "well, I think your dream is just about done, since you are starting to fade a bit. I hope you will come back again in your dreams." Just as she was fading out, he heard her say "I definitely will try!"  
  
Once she was completely gone, he summoned the rest of the teachers to his office to discuss this phenomenon. A person, who could not be Muggle, but didn't seem to be a trained witch had made it to Hogwarts. She had made it through the wards and talked with people here. She had looked solid until she said she was dreaming, and then faded out, but she had never been to a magic school, but still got her hands on a wand and books. He was worried about her. After they had discussed all of this, they decided to try to find her if she came back the next night by getting her address. They needed to see how such a powerful person had made it through life without training. 


	2. Meeting Snape

Disclaimer: I own nothing that belongs to JK Rowlings, but I am borrowing them for a short time. Don't sue, just enjoy!  
  
  
  
  
  
As Tracy woke up in her bed, she almost started crying, wishing she could have stayed in that wonderful place. She wondered if it were only a dream, since some of her favorite books mentioned a place called Hogwarts, but she could not make herself believe it was real. She decided that since she was awake, and did not have to go to work that she would try the potion she had made. It looked right, a bright green, and was not fizzy, or bubbly, or anything else against which the book warned. She measured out the portion she was supposed to take, and tipped her head back and swallowed it quickly since it tasted nasty. The book said it would take a while for the potion to take effect, so Tracy decided to go to her room and read some more of the schoolbooks while waiting. She kept feeling tingly and strange stretching things while reading, and decided to just sit in front of the mirror and wait. All at once she convulsed with pain, since it felt like her whole body had cramped up at the same time. This happened twice more, and then she felt herself changing. Her bones and muscles were rearranging themselves to fit her animagi self. She looked in the mirror with wide eyes, and a griffon looked back at her. To say the least she was shocked, since turning into a magical animal was just about unheard of, or at least that is what the book said. She spread her wings and hopped into the air for a short flight around the room. She landed again, and turned back to a human, and flopped on the bed, closed her eyes and tried not to think of what had just happened.  
  
When she opened her eyes, she was pleased to find that she was at the gates of Hogwarts again. This time as she walked through, everyone looked at her, and then one of the teachers spotted her and asked Tracy to go up to Dumbledore's office. She gave the password and went in, and sat and waited for him to show up while scratching Fawkes. When he walked in he sat and stared asking some questions about her life, and she asked him why he was so interested. He said that he tried to keep records of strange occurrences, and where they occur, so she gave him her address and phone number pretending that this was real. When he heard her address, he asked her if she had ever seen a pub called The Leaky Cauldron, and she said "yes, but since I don't drink, I never went in."  
  
Then Dumbledore said, "What would happen, if I said that this is not just a dream, and that we could have you come here in real life?"  
  
Tracy said "That would be a dream come true, but she knew it was only a dream."  
  
"If you could chose one of the teachers to talk to in real life, who would it be?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
When she answered Snape, he just about fell out of his chair in shock. "Snape? Why him?"  
  
"I think he needs someone to talk to in his life. I see that he is not accepted here, and I have been an outcast in my life, so I think we would be able to get along after a while." Just as Tracy was finishing her sentence, she felt herself begin to fade and said, I hope I will be able to continue coming here, since this is so much nicer than real life.  
  
Dumbledore just smiled and said I will work on making your dream come true.  
  
Since she was still feeling tired and sore in the morning, Tracy decided to take a week's vacation to calm down and try to get herself back together, so she called in and told the bosses. They said to go ahead, since they had seen her working 80-hour weeks since she got there, and didn't want to be responsible for someone having a breakdown.  
  
Just as she hung up the phone, she heard a tapping at her window. When she looked up, she saw Fawkes sitting on the windowsill, tilting his head back and forth, as if he was asking to be let in. Thinking she was dreaming she opened the window and Fawkes jumped to her shoulder and held out a leg. Tracy noticed a piece of parchment tied to his leg, and took it off to read it. As she was doing this, he nipped at her fingers, and she jumped, since she was able to feel it. The 2 times in Dumbledore's office, she had not been able to feel him, which is why she knew she was dreaming. Since she could feel him now, she realized that this was really happening.  
  
She unrolled the letter while still a little shocked, and read the green ink on parchment letter  
  
Dear Tracy Carpenter,  
  
I would like to invite you to the Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. Since I know you have no owl, I will be sending someone to pick you up. If you don't want to come, just tell him, and we will leave you alone. If you decide to come, I would be honored to extend to you the position of professor of muggle studies. Since you have lived in the muggle world your whole life, you are supremely qualified for this job. (Also you will be able to study magic in your free time if you would like) there will be someone at your door at 1500 your time, so please respond one way or another.  
  
Hope to see you soon  
  
Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts  
  
Tracy looked at the clock and it was 1430. She had 30 minutes to decide how she wanted to live her life. By the time the clock hit 1435, she had called her office and said she was taking indefinite leave, if they would let her, and if they wouldn't she would quit. They said she was becoming unreliable, so she just quit. She arranged for a moving service to put her stuff in storage and packed what she thought would be necessary for a teacher of muggle studies at Hogwarts, and she packed her new books and magical objects.  
  
Just as the clock hit 1500 Tracy heard someone knocking on her front door. Tracy nervously adjusted her outfit, made sure her bag was ready, and opened her door. Standing on her doorstep, Glaring at her was Professor Snape. She stared for a minute and then moved aside and said "won't you come in?"  
  
Snape stalked in, and sat down in her living room. "So, what is your answer?"  
  
"I have decided to take the position Dumbledore has offered me, and I have quit my job and am ready to go to Hogwarts."  
  
Snape frowned, and said "let's go." He headed to the door, and she grabbed her bags and followed him.  
  
He led her straight to the leaky cauldron, and walked in. She followed a little nervously, and looked around, while Snape registered her and got her a room. She left all of her stuff except the wand since they were going to the wand shop. Then Snape mumbled something about getting her some supplies, and walked out the back door into a little courtyard. Snape tapped a brick with a wand, and a doorway appeared.  
  
Snape said, "We need to get you robes, and supplies, and I guess you need a wand, right?"  
  
Tracy said, "I already have a wand, I got it from an antique shop."  
  
Snape just sneered and said, "We will have to get you one that is made just for you. "  
  
Tracy decided not to argue, and followed him to madam Malkin's. Snape told Malkin that Tracy needed teaching robes, a dress robe, and a hat. After getting measured, they left to get her supplies while the robes were being adjusted. They went to Flourish and Botts, and got her quills, parchment and ink, and she looked around for appropriate books for muggle studies. By the time they bought all of the supplies, she was feeling like a little kid being dragged around by an uncle or something. Then Snape said "to Olivanders for your wand". When they walked in, a little man showed up, and asked which was her wand hand and started measuring her very completely with a magical measuring tape. When he started to go looking for wands, she said before you go looking, see if the wand I have will work please. When she pulled it out, his face went white with shock, "where did you get that wand!" As she explained, his eyes got wider and wider, and Snape looked even paler than usual. Snape said, "have you told Dumbledore this story yet?" "Of course not, I have only seen him twice for short times, and I didn't know it was important" Ollivander said "I don't have another wand for you, the one you have is sufficient. It is 8 1/4" long, elm, with a phoenix tail feather. It was made to fit a prophecy, and it seems the person in the prophecy may just be you.  
  
Snape all but dragged her out of there and back to the cauldron where he dragged her up to her room where a fire was going. He then threw some powder on the fire and said "Dumbledore". When Dumbledore's head appeared, Snape gave a short summary, and asked if they could go straight to Hogwarts. Dumbledore agreed, and said to Floo to Hogsmede and they would be met there and escorted to Hogwarts. He made her go first, making sure she pronounced it correctly and then followed with her bags. When Snape comes out of the fireplace, he looks around for Tracy and can't find her. He mutters under his breath about mudbloods who should do as they are told, and goes to find her. As he is looking, he thinks back to this morning when Dumbledore told Snape that he had been chose to go meet Tracy. When he asked him, Dumbledore answered "because she asked for you. By name." Snape just looked at the headmaster like he was crazy. "How did she know my name? Why did she pick me? Doesn't she know my reputation?" Dumbledore answered she picked you because she know what it is like to be shunned, and said you might become friends after a while. Just then, he caught a glimpse of blond hair, and turned to see Tracy there. "Were you looking for me? I am sorry, I didn't mean to be such trouble. I just had to get to the prank store. If I am going to be at Hogwarts with the Weaslies, I should be prepared." "And how do you know about them?" "Well, I will tell you when we get to Dumbledore's office so I don't have to repeat myself." Just then a man walks up with a big black dog in tow. Tracy greeted them..."hello Remus, hello snuffles.", when they looked at her in shock, she said "can we just go? I promise I will explain shortly." As they started walking, they plied her with questions, but she just smiled mysteriously and didn't say a word.  
  
As they entered the great hall, everyone turned to see the new professor in the flesh for the first time. She waved at everyone, and went over and kissed Draco Malloy on the cheek just to embarrass him. Then she went up to Dumbledore and said "shall we go talk? I think my escorts are going to wither away with curiosity if I don't tell the story soon." Dumbledore said, "do you want to tell the whole school?" T,"nope, just certain teachers first, then you can decide. Dumbledore "who else besides this group?" T," Add McGonigall and that should be everyone." D-"ok, shall we go?" "Lead the way."  
  
Off they went to Dumbledore's office. Snape was watching her closely, and noticed that she skipped the trick step, and seemed to know too much about the paintings. When they got to the office, she explained her story again to the group, and added the part about the books. When they looked at her in shock she pulled the Harry Potter set out of her bag and showed it to them. When the finally believed her, Dumbledore had Snape show her to her room, and set up a meeting for the morning to get started on her classes (both teaching and learning)  
  
Early the next morning, Tracy woke up, and was disoriented looking at the darkness surrounding her. Then she remembered where she was, and opened the drapes on her 4-poster bed to greet the day. She dressed in her new robes and went down to breakfast. She was one of the first teachers there, and pulled a small deck of cards out to play solitaire while waiting. She jumped in her seat when a voice came from behind her "what are you doing?" Tracy turned around and said "what does it look like Snape? I am playing solitaire. It is a good way to pass time and keep from getting bored." He replied "oh, a muggle game." T- "it may be a muggle game, but it has helped keep me sane when no one would talk to me." S-"you were ignored? And you stood for that?" T-"being ignored was better than the alternative of being picked on. I can survive loneliness; I can't survive with my self- confidence in shreds." S-"good point Tracy. I won't bother you anymore."  
  
Tracy couldn't understand it. Snape had been nice, and walked away without any biting comments. Then she looked around, and saw the great hall was filling with students who had been watching the interaction between her and Snape while waiting for breakfast. Tracy realized that she had been right when she asked Dumbledore to send Snape to pick her up. They were more alike then they knew, and maybe she would be able to break through Snape's shell  
  
After eating a sparse breakfast, since she was too nervous to eat a lot, she headed to her classroom to get ready for her first class as a teacher. Her first class was with the 4th year hufflepuffs, and after seeing them walk in while whispering about her changed her mind about her curriculum, and decided to let the first week be just a Q&A session between her and the students. Tracy stood up and said "hello, I am professor carpenter, and as you know, I am new to the wizarding world. I think that the best way to get this class started would be for us to just start with whatever you are wondering about. After that, I will be teaching you how to blend in to the muggle world so well that no-one will be able to tell you are different. Ok, to make this be relatively fair, I will go in seating order." She pointed to the first student, and said, "please introduce yourself, say something about yourself to help me remember you, and then ask 1 question about the muggle world". The boy stood up and said, my name is Landry D Soames, and I absolutely love quiddich. I am on the team and play chaser. I would like to know how you found out that you were a witch." Tracy decided that since it was probably the number 1 question in most people's minds, she would tell the story as matter concisely as possible.  
  
=====================  
  
Author's Note: Please read and review, since I am not sure how I want the story to go from here. I can use any and all suggestions. Thanks! 


End file.
